This book really is the overlap of the Venn diagram between romance and mystery. I enjoy that! I think that the romance itself is not the most emotional one you'll come across, but it is still very nice. I enjoyed: the meet-disaster nature of the main couple, that there was kissing in a folly!!!!!, the great friendships in this book. It was very obvious the book is inspired by true crime podcasts, which I have complicated feelings about, and those sort of ported over onto this book, namely the way they make women who are less vulnerable in the grand scheme of things (white, affulent women) feel more vulnerable, meanwhile the women in the most danger (women of color, unhoused women, poor women, etc.) get overlooked. With a plot of a serial killer in Victorian England, it was impossible not to think of Jack the Ripper, so it's hard not to bring one's knowledge to bear. Nonetheless, I still think this book does not dwell too much in the darkness of the killings itself and keeps things light and brisk. I will absolutely pick up the sequel.

It has an interesting mix of mystery combined with romance. This was a slightly new genre for me as I normally read either mysteries or historical romance but it was a delight. Katherine was a surprisingly forward-thinking, smart heroine and engages in snappy banter with Inspector Andrew and they end up working together to solve the crimes.

I have to thank the author for the feminist theme , that too set up in historical times. Though there is some steam, it is majorly a slow burn kind. The clues pretty easily solve the crime so I felt the mystery was not that great but since it is a romance book as well, it works.

England, 1865 : As one of England's most notorious newspaper columnists, Lady Katherine Bascomb believes knowledge is power. And she's determined to inform and educate the ladies of London on the nefarious-and deadly-criminals who are praying on the fairer sex. When her reporting leads to the arrest of a notorious killer, however, Katherine flees to a country house party to escape her newfound notoriety-only to witness a murder on her very first night. And when the lead detective accuses Katherine of inflaming-rather than informing-the public with her column, she vows to prove him wrong.

Detective Inspector Andrew Eversham's refusal to compromise his investigations nearly cost him his own career, and he blames Katherine. To avoid bad publicity, his superiors are pressuring him to solve cases quickly rather than correctly. When he discovers she's the key witness in a new crime, he's determined to prevent the beautiful widow from once again wreaking havoc on his case. Yet as Katherine proves surprisingly insightful and Andrew impresses Katherine with his lethal competency, both are forced to admit the fire between them is more flirtatious than furious. But to explore the passion between them, they'll need to catch a killer.

The connection between strong willed newspaper owner and columnist Lady Katherine and the serious, determined detective Andrew Eversham drew me into A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem immediately. Katherine authored an article about the “Commandments Killer” citing new information. This article contained an interview with a witness that the police overlooked. The newspaper article ruined the lead detective, Andrew Eversham’s career. Andrew and Katherine meet at a crowded assembly announcing that the Commandments Killer had been caught. Andrew rescues her from the crush and sees her to safety.
I adored this delightful whodunit which takes place at a house party at a country estate. The storyline reminded me of Clue, one of my favorite board games. The cast of characters was fabulous! The guest list includes an American businessman and his daughter, an ex-prize fighter, the Earl and Countess of Eggleston and Reeve Thompson. Lots of different personalities that added to my enjoyment of the novel.
Andrew and Katherine are reunited when a murder occurs at the house party. Loved the initial conflict between these two characters and how their relationship changed as they learned to work together to solve the murders. The attraction between Andrew and Katherine intensified with every murder and the author crafted fabulous dialogue for them—witty, serious and passionate.
The focus of the storyline was solving the mystery— which appealed to me. Enjoyed that the author added in several red herring clues which added intrigue and a sense of uneasiness to the novel. I loved trying to figure out the killer’s identity and when he or she might strike again.
A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem is well written, the romance between Andrew and Katherine is engaging and the unmasking of the killer totally surprised me!
Well done Manda Collins--I fell for one of the red herring clues and believed another character was the murderer!

Fantastic Victorian set romance/mystery suspense. Strong female characters who defy societal expectations to own their own business and investigate murders. Thank you Forever Publishing for the ARC to read and review..

There is a killer in London that is killing based off the biblical ten commandments. Scotland Yard has not been able to discover a link between the victims or who the killer might be.
Lady Katherine Bascom, vivacious newspaper running widow, does some reporting of her own with her friend Miss Caroline Hardcastle (cookbook author) and discovers a witness that Scotland Yard had missed. They decide to write an article to help women to avoid becoming victims (very worthy cause) but may have made some errors in judgement. Since this in turn gets the head detective removed from the case annnndddd may have put the witness in danger.
The reporting of the witness who had a description of a man which resulted in the arrest of a possible innocent man because of pressure from the Home Office (Parliament).
Lady Katherine heads to a house party to get help to release the possibly innocent man from her friend Lord Valentine who's father is a peer then two murders occur similar to those in London. Which results in Detective Eversham being dispatched to the countryside to investigate.
Hmmm who and why are these murders happening? Are they copycats or the same killer from London?
Detective Eversham and Lady Katherine have quite the chemistry and very strong personalities that clash in all the right ways. Can they get past that she is the reason he got demoted?
Lady Katherine's two friends Caro and her friend Val who's house party they attended also have some history and some animosity towards each other. But I can't tell if it's because they like each other or detest each other. You know I love a good enemies to lovers story. Glad to know they will get their own story in Fall 2021!

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
For the vivacious quick witted banter and steamy slow burn romance. I couldn't put this one down! I had an idea of who it was but it kept changing but maybe I'm not that quick lol.

Thank you Net Galley and Grand Central Publishing for the arc copy for my voluntary honest review.

I am so excited about this new series by Manda Collins. She has always been a favorite author of mine. Historical romance mysteries are a favorite genre so I was excited to hear about this book. Delightful characters that we want more of and an exciting mystery make for a very enjoyable read. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a well written book that will let you go on an adventure in reading.

I was really looking forward to this historical mystery/romance. From reading the blurb I kind of got the impression that this would be more on the rom-com side, full of fun shenanigans and such, which it wasn’t and may explain my disappointment. Maybe my expectations were too high going in, who knows.

I think the mystery takes center stage over the romance, even though the main characters work together for the most part to solve the series of murders. Lots of details and descriptions, not a whole lot of fun shenanigans, I wanted to like the heroine and hero together more than I actually did and never truly bought into their relationship.

In the end, I feel like A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem is okay. Not my favorite and not the worst I’ve read, but just okay.

3.5 stars

A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem was an enjoyable historical romance. The added murder plot kept things moving, but I did find that the pacing overall was a little too slow and it made the book feel overly long. I'm not sure if it was the anxiety of current events or the story itself, but things seemed to stall in the middle of the novel. The conclusion of the murder plot felt a bit anticlimactic and then the ending felt very rushed. I really liked the heroine, Katherine, but my favorite character was Caro. Katherine just seemed to become more and more a damsel in distress as the novel progressed. I did like her and Eversham together though and loved how they pushed each other's buttons. I'm very intrigued by the history between Val and Caro though and I'm excited for their story next.

*I voluntarily read an advance review copy of this book*

A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem gave me Lady Sherlock vibes and I loved it! Lady Katherine, after the death of her husband, takes over a newspaper and decides that women need to be better informed. She and her new friend Caro decide to write a column just for women. Both Katherine and Caro are whip smart, savvy, and determined. Readers will love them.

The plot involves a serial killer. Andrew was the officer assigned to the case until Katherine's article gets him kicked off. However, these two are forced together after another murder attributed to the same killer occurs and Katherine is a witness. These two have an enemies to lovers type romance, but Katherine is also fiercely protective of her independence. Her marriage was bad and she has no desire to lose her freedom to a man again.

Overall, A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem delivers on a slow burn romance between two unlikely people and a murder mystery with an intriguing killer. At times, I thought the plot was a tad slow and wanted to skip forward a bit through some of the innocuous descriptions and interactions. However, I loved the story! Katherine, Caro, Andrew, and Val really are well written, dynamic characters.

In 1865 England, Katherine ‘Kate’ Bascomb is an independent widow and newspaper owner. When London faces a spate of crimes from a ‘Commandment Killer’, she decides to use her column to protect women in the city and warn them of a killer on the loose - and tries to crack the case herself. Pairing up with Miss Caroline ‘Caro’ Hardcastle, they write a column that looks closely at how the case is being run.

Her reporting also gets on the bad side of the roguish Detective Inspector Andrew Eversham, who almost finds himself kicked off the force. When Kate further entangles herself into the case - she also gets entangled with an unexpected romance - and that’s where the sparks fly.

I loved the rich Victorian setting and thoroughly enjoyed the chemistry between Andrew and Kate in this flirty historical romance. If you love ‘hate-to-love’ romances, true crime and a fierce heroine, you’ll love this one. I found the mystery to be somewhat predictable, but the romance takes center-stage here, so I wasn’t upset - that certainly delivered.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Thank you to Netgalley and Read Forever for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

From my blog: Always With a Book:

This is the first book I've read by Manda Collins and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It grabbed me right from the start and never let up.

I loved that this book combined a few things that I love: historical fiction and mystery being at the forefront, and has a touch of romance on the side. This was done so well and kept me engaged all the way through. The characters in this book are so well drawn and I loved that Lady Katherine Bascoe is such a strong, smart, independent woman. She is unwilling to let anyone deter her from doing what she wants, in this case, getting to the bottom of these murders. I also loved that Detective Inspector Andrew Eversham didn't want to change her. He might get completely frustrated with her, but he ultimately loved her for who she is and even though he wants to protect her, he wants her to have her independence as well.

While I did ultimately guess who was behind the murders early on, I was only partially right and it just happened to be a fluke guess. And it in no way detracted from my enjoyment of this book. I had no idea the why and to me knowing the motivation behind the crimes is what drives the book. And I never would have been able to put all that together.

The pace of this book moves along just right and I felt myself transported to 1865 Victorian England. Manda Collins does such a great job setting the time and place of the book. I felt myself totally pulled in and I cannot wait to read the sequel, which will be out in the fall of 2022. This book totally took my by surprise in all the best ways and I definitely recommend it!

This was very cute, and super fun. Maybe not my favorite historical romance that I've read all year, but I am super excited to see what Manda Collins does in the future. I wish the hero and heroine had a bit more chemistry, as sometimes I didn't really buy into their romance - and this is coming from someone who isa die hard enemies to lovers fan. Overall there were a lot things that worked, and some things that didn't, but I had fun reading it.

Although I cannot tell you how many times I have confused the title of this book for 'A Lady's Guide Mischief and Murder' by a completely different author. My brain had such a hard time keeping these separate.

Historical romance meets cozy mysteries in this start to a new series.

This book started off right where I wanted to be with our heroine, Lady Katherine Bascomb, widowed and owner of a newspaper. She befriends a fellow author and they embark on writing a column around a London serial killer. I mean, be still my crime show watching heart. This is definitely my type of book. We even have a Scotland Yard hero, Detective Inspector Andrew Eversham, who is also investigating the serial killer. At least until Lady Katherine’s new column and interview with a potential witness, our inspector missed, gets him banned from the case. Add in the fact that the Met arrested the wrong man for the murders and it’s mayhem for sure.

I was fully prepared for investigative journalism, watching Lady Katherine get into shenanigans in the dark corners of London with our dear inspector trailing after her in an effort to redeem his name and catch the killer. Boy, was I wrong. That’s not where this story went at all.

Instead, we go to a house party. Where *gasp* a murder occurs that looks suspiciously like the serial killer from London, but why? I found myself asking that question over and over again as our inspector hero is summoned from London and has a chance at redemption by finding out if this killer is the same as the serial killer. The wild chase that results is definite cozy territory. Other quotes about this book say rom-com with a mystery, but I didn’t gauge any laughable moments in this story. Though there is plenty of talk about murder and dangerous situations without the gore or and vivid descriptions of murder. Lots of sneaky things happening with hero and heroine always just a step away from putting it together and with each moment driving them ultimately closer… to each other.

Katherine and Eversham are constantly at odds between him trying to do his job and Katherine feeling the need to butt in because she feels responsible for the wrong person being arrested for the serial killer’s crimes. Though, the two share an attraction and this whole opposite attract thing drives a lot of their conflict as much as their debates over Katherine’s investigative prowess.

I wanted to like Katherine, but I found myself annoyed. She’s so smart, but there are multiple instances when the truth is right in front of her and she can’t see it. Eversham is a pretty impressive hero with a good, protective nature, though he also seemed snowed by things he shouldn’t have been. Katherine’s stubbornness is hard to ignore and at times ridiculous. Eversham, for all his bluster, ends up going along with it because he doesn’t have a choice.

Overall, the plot seemed more of convenience to force these two together and around each other. I found myself able to walk away from the story and not as engaged as I wanted to be, as this is my first Manda Collins book, I don’t want to throw in the towel yet… but I’m not sure this series is for me.

~ Landra

Thank you to Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the ARC.

🌟🌟🌟 3/5 stars

A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem tells the story of Lady Katherine Bascomb, England’s most notorious newspaper columnist. Her goal is to inform women about the crime occurring in the city. One of her columns ends up leading to an arrest and inadvertently gets the detective on that case, Andrew Eversham, fired. The two immediately clash. When Katherine is the witness in a murder, her and Andrew must work together to solve the case.

I absolutely loved Katherine as a lead character. She is strong, funny, and sharp. The feminist themes of the story are excellent and I enjoyed all of the characters. You root for the characters immediately and are invested in the mystery.

My two quibbles with this one is the pacing and the romance. I loved the idea of the romance, but I just wanted more of it. It definitely focuses more on the mystery, which is great, but I do prefer a more even balance between the two. With the pacing, this one had a slow start for me and I struggled with the pacing throughout. I love fast-paced reads and maybe this is me not being used to the historical fiction genre because this is my usual struggle with this genre.

Overall, A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem is a fun historical romp with a strong lead character and interesting mystery.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book! Well the mystery wasn’t a hard one, it was an enjoyable read. The characters were relatable and welcoming. I loved Lady Katherine and Detective Inspector Andrew Eversham’s relationship. It wasn’t a complete enemies to lovers, but close. Just the right amount of mystery, history, & steam! Manda Collins’s writing flows nicely without stalling the momentum of the plot. Highly recommend!

I received an ARC of this book to read through NetGalley. All opinions are my own. A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem is the first book in Manda Collins’s exciting new series A Lady’s Guide. After a miserable marriage, Lady Katherine Bascomb is happily widowed and running her own newspaper. She and her friend Caroline Hardcastle come up with the idea of writing a column called A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem as a way of informing women about the things that men say they are protecting them from when really keeping women ignorant is more likely to harm them. In the first column, they write about interviewing a witness involved in the Commandments Killer case, one that the police didn’t interview, and that article gets Inspector Andrew Eversham removed from the case. He’s quite unhappy about it, especially when his replacement and supervisor arrest and charge someone he’s sure is innocent of the murders. When the murderer seems to have followed Kate to a house party in the Lake District, Andrew is put back on the case, and sparks fly between them. I enjoyed this story with its intriguing mystery and look forward to reading future books in this series. Medium Steam. Publishing Date, November 10, 2020. #ALadysGuideToMischiefAndMayhem #MandaCollins #HistoricalRomance #HistoricalMystery #ForeverGrandCentral #bookstagram #bookstagramer

If you have read Manda before you know that she has a lot of mystery in her books and I love them. There is romance but the mysteries are the real focus. I know, you are saying “but this is a romance” and it is, kind of. I have not really cared for some books with this same premise but Manda’s books are so good in the mystery department that you are left wondering whodunit. Katherine and Andrew are following clues, getting to know each other and falling in love.

A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem by Manda Collins was a fun historical romantic mystery novel. It is absolutely a genre book, so it may not be as enthralling if you aren’t a fan of the period setting or the cozy-mystery aspects. As the title hints at, A Lady’s Guide does provide a feminist twist to the genre as Lady Katherine Bascomb decides to report on crime and offer her readers a “feminine perspective” on the recent string of murders known as the Commandment Killings. While she becomes increasingly involved in the investigation, her path intertwines with detective Andrew Eversham and mystery and romance ensue.

Although it was an enjoyable read, ultimately for me the pace was a little slow, and as I’m not the biggest fan of the genre that made it a bit difficult for me to really get into the plot. However, I would highly recommend this to readers who like their mysteries a little on the cozier side as well as period romance. The details were cute and it was a delightful journey into the Victorian setting.

Thank you @readforeverpub for the eARC via @netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Romance, mystery, and historical fiction--my three favorites are effectively combined in this book.

I liked the interplay between Lady Katherine and Inspector Eversham while they worked together to solve the mystery of the Commandments killer. I think the mystery was complex enough that it was interesting and difficult to completely figure out. There was a nice twist to the mystery in the end that I enjoyed.

The enemies to lovers romance is one of my favorite tropes. It works so well here between Lady Katherine and Inspector Eversham. I think it is because he is attracted to both her beauty and her brains. Speaking of enemies to lovers, I am looking forward to finding out what exactly is going on with supporting characters Lord Valentine and Caroline Hardcastle. Bring on book two!

I enjoyed the characters, mystery, and the romance in this book. I recommend it to romance and mystery readers alike.